Improved horseshoe



' UNITED STATES PATENT OEErcE.

IMPROVED HORSESHOE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 26,036, dated November8, 1859.

To @ZZ whom, t may concern:

Be it known that I, N. E. HINDs, of Cooperstown, county of Otsego, andState of New York, have invented certain vnew and useful Improvements inHorse and other Animal Shoes; and I hereby declare the followingv to bea full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operationof the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making apart of this specification, and to the letters of reference markedthereon.

The object of making my improvement is to substitute cast-iron in lieuofwrought-iron in the construction and manufacture of animal shoes, inorder to cheapen their cost. This attainment has been attempted afewtimes, but with very little success, for the reason that the shoes werenot constructed in suitable and proper forms and proportions to renderthem safe and free against breaking.

The nature of my invention consists in constructing the shoes withlarger and heavier proportions in the parts most liable to break; inconstructing the wearing side of the shoe in a trough-like concave form,and in constructing calks in a V or double-V form.

As the different kinds of animal-shoes are very similar, I will describeonly the horseshoes in the specification.

Figure l is a perspective view of a horseshoe. Fig. 2 is an edge view ofthe shoe.

out.

A is the plate or main body of the shoe. In the central part, on dottedline s s, the plate is to be of one thickness clear around, as near aspracticable, and to be only half the thickness of common wrought-ironshoes. Around the toe part of the shoe it is increased in width over thecommon wrought shoe, so as to make it from one-half as wide again totwice as wide as the common wrought shoe at the toc, and from thence ittapers or gradually diminishes in width to the heel ends,where it is ofcom-y mon width of wrought shoes. The outside edge of the shoe throughwhich the nail-holes pass is about one-third thicker at the toe partthan it is at t-he heel ends of the shoe. These larger proportions attoe part of the shoe are so made to strengthen that part,which is muchmore liable to break. The under side of the shoe, between the raisededges B B and C, and in range with the dotted line s s, is construct-Similar letters indicate like parts throughed in a kind of trough-likeconcave form. In forming this concave the edges B B and O have to beraised to nearly half the height or depth of the calks. These edges, onthe opposite sides of the concave, are raised in avertical position,orat aright angle or nearly right angle to the face of the shoe, or thatside of it that comes in contact with the horses foot. The edges B Bcome immediately against the nailholes. The edge U is exactly even withthe the inside edge of the shoe. This kind of concave and the raisededges ensuing therefrom are very well shown in'Fig. 2, and they servesome very important purposes in the horse and other animal shoes. l Inthe rst place the extra width 'and concave form of the shoe render itvery safe against clogging or balling to be packed in under the shoe soas to become strongly attached, as in the case of the old-fashionednarrow shoe. Again, the frog of the foot, being more fleshy, contains aconsiderable animal heat, which prevents snow or balls from attachingvery strongly to it. Then, again, the horse, almost continually steppingonto uneven surfaces, makes but very few steps before he steps ontosomething that will press harder on one side of the concave than on theother, and the snow or ball will be forced to the opposite side of thevconcave and` be discharged, and by repeated movements of this kindfollowing in quick succession the balling of horses is most prevented.

Another important use of the raised edges, I

aside from their use in forming the concave, is that they add depth andthickness to theV edges of the shoes, putting them into a kind ofcorrugated form to increase their strength in a lateral or crossdirection. Horses shoes are scarcely ever broken, except in two ways.

One of these ways is by blows or knocks upon the outside edge of theshoe. In this way the fracture must begin on the inside edge of theshoe, and its resistance to break will be exactly in proportion to itswidth. Then,again, if the inside of the shoe is twice as thick from theaddition of the raised edge C, the resistance to fracture will bedoubled on this account, making the shoe about four times as strong asit would be in the old-'fashioned form; but by far the greatest amountof breaking to horseshoes is in a transverse or sufficient to breakcalks.

cross direction. This kind of break takes place in consequence of thehorses stepping onto cobble stone or some high eminence which bears uponthe inside edges of the shoe only, under which there is no support, asthe horses foot is so hollowin g that there is seldom anything to bearagainst the 4inside edge. Even in case of a very iiat footed horse, orin case of cutting away the outside of the hoof until the inside edge ofthe shoe should bear, it would not even then support the shoe againstbreaking, for the inside of the hoof is so soft that it would yieldenough to fracture cast,

iron shoes. D is the toe-calk. It is made in a double-V shape on someshoes, as may be seen in the drawings, and in icy, frozen countries thisform will be much the best. For such localities the calks will need tobe thin and sharp to cutinto the ice and frozen ground to preventslipping. Making the calks thin in this manner will greatly increasetheir liability to break. f

In `constructing calks with the same amount of materialin leach toproduce greater strength from the form alone, it may be seen that thelateral or angular lines u n of the calks, (see drawings, Fig. 1,) in acalk in a double- V shape, to occupy only the space or width of thesingle-V calks, must be much more oblique, and that the points o o willbe more sharp and acute. The locomotion of the horse is directlyforward. He scarcely ever moves in any other direction with speed orpower It may also be seen that, the horse throwing his feet forward inthe direction of the lines, m m, the points o o ofthe calks must strikeany obstruction first, and it may then be seen. that the lateral lines nn of the calks serve as kind of braces or arches to support the points oo. lIn this way it is apparent that the double-V form of calk givesgreater strength to it than if it were composed of the same amount ofmetal in the single-V form, and that the single-V form will also bestronger than if it were in a straight form; hence the advantage ofthese kinds of calks.

In countries where there are no stone or rocks to break the calks thesingle-V form is intended to be used, and for summer use,even in stonycountries, the single-V form will be the best for the calks. The shoesfor summer use have to be made a great deal heavier to secure a longerdurability against the greater wear in summer, which will give themsufficient strength to stand; and a calk made in the single-V form, tooccupy the same space on the shoe of the double-V form of calk, will beless oblique on the lines n n, and the bulk of the calk can be setnearer to and more in line with the front edge or front line of 'theshoe, which will guard and protect tHe shoe better and aid the horse agood deal in hislocomotion. The single-V form will be more proper, too,for oX-shoes, which are made to deep, broad rim outside of thenail-holes and on the outside edge of the` shoe,which continues entirelyaround the outside edge of the shoe to form but one continuous calk;that the inside edge of the shoe is thin and bent upward to fit to thehorses hoof and prevent dirt from working in under the shoe; that thereis but one rim or edge, as claimed, and the only sense in which it canbe said to be concave is the bending the inside up, and this is merelyto produce a convex form to flt to the concavity of the horses foot. Itis in no sense a trough-like concave form, as in my shoe.v I am alsoaware thathorses7 shoes have been constructed with a cord or bead aroundthe inner part of the shoe.77 vFrom this descri tion it is not definitethat the cord is exact y on the inside edge of the shoe. It may beintermediate, but nearer the inside edge; butin either way it onlyproduces a kind of stii'en` p ing-bar to support the shoe, and does notaid in forming the trough-like concave form of my shoe. In neither ofthese cases, simply or com-` bined, is there anything bearing anysimilarity to my trough-like concave. form. Therefore, in view of theseexplanations, f

What I claim as my invention,v and wish to secure by Letters Patent ofthe United States, 15,-

1. The wider and thicker enlargement of the toe or fore part of theshoe.

2. The trough-like concave form of the un` der side of the shoe and theraised' edges B B and C that ensue as a consequence of the constructionof'said concave form.

3. The construction of calks made in aV or N., E. HINDS.

Witnesses:

G. W. ERNST, l J. W. PIXLEY.

